Carpal Tunnel Syndrome During Pregnancy

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the current frequency of carpal tunnel syndrome during pregnancy in our area and to assess the course of carpal tunnel syndrome during pregnancy in those patients. Material and Methods: This is a prospective study of 400 women attending antenatal outpatients’ clinic. This study was conducted between the 1st of July 2009 and the end of August 2010 at King Hussein Medical Center, Jordan. At each demographic details and issues related to their problems were obtained. Results: During the study period, 400 pregnant women attending antenatal outpatients’ clinic in our hospital, 74 (18.5%) women were found to have carpel tunnel symptoms. Most of them were in third trimester of pregnancy 81.1% (no=60) followed by the second trimester 16.2% (no=12) and the least were in the first trimester 2.7% (no=2). The most common complaint was numbness, particularly during the daytime (78.4%), while the least frequent symptom reported was pain. However, about half of women with CTS during pregnancy still complained of CTS symptoms one year after delivery. Conclusion: A large number of pregnant women suffer from the frequent occurrence of CTS in pregnancy and are first noted during the third trimester, but only in half of women CTS symptoms disappeared one year after delivery.